Maron: Projections / Mexican Angel

Posted by: S.P. Young • June 30, 2013 @ 8:04pm

"Oh don't fall into that trap. Best thing I ever did was quit show business. No more disappointment. No more compromise. Now if I fail, it's completely on my terms."

In this fictionalized version of Marc Maron's life, the poor guy can not even afford a proper audio studio to record his podcast on. Presumably, he had just enough money to pay for the audio equipment, and that was about it. So when the next door neighbour does some woodworking in the middle of the day, the noise found its way into Marc's garage studio, thus interrupting the recording process. This scene is meant to bring the viewer to the dichotomy of living poor with integrity, or selling out. Marc is obviously in the category of being poor. So poor, that Bob pointed out that soundproof padding would only cost twenty dollars. But what creative integrity does Marc really maintain, at the cost of NOT selling out? Or is Marc just rationalizing not being a success?

While out at a restaurant with Danny, Marc went into fantasy mode, on how his life could have been different. If he had a wife and two kids. If he was gay. If he was the chef of the restaurant, who had sex with the female staff.

At this point, all he can do is dream.

So can Danny. The last fantasy scene turned out to be from Danny's point of view, and not Marc's. It showed what Marc could have been like, had he not been so stubborn and bitter in his ways, and actually went the path that Danny took, and achieved some success in breaking out into the mainstream media culture. If this did happen, would Marc really be happier without his self-imposed sense of integrity?

"No one kicked her out."

Would that mean not doing his podcast with Adam, complaining about his housing situation? For a man of Marc's age, he may have the burnt out cynicism that goes with the old age, but without any of the wisdom to deal with some of life's more obvious problems. For example, his stalker turned girlfriend, Jen, who is now also his room mate, as a result of some horribly transparent maneuvering on her part, that Marc was oblivious to.

It was blatantly obvious what Jen was trying to do. Anybody could have told him that. So either Marc is completely stupid, or on some level, he put two and two together, and lied to himself about the whole thing, just so that he could find an excuse for Jen to move in. Or as Jen would have Marc believe, she was getting evicted and needed a place to store her belongings.

Marc ended up getting the answer that he looked for, in finding that Jen was really not evicted. As that answer alone was not good enough (to go along with the stalking), Marc just had to start a fight over it. His dull instincts had been right all along about the so-called eviction. Instead of doing what any sane person would do, he further engaged Jen over everything, as opposed to promptly giving her the boot. As Marc did not keep the windows closed the whole time, a grieving neighbour heard the "mutual emotional abuse," as Marc described it. The grief talk with the neighbour paved the way for Marc to be able to resolve things with Jen, and also for him to admit his feelings for her.

His idea of resolution was allowing his manipulative, stalker girlfriend with daddy issues to move into his home. Because he loves her. The end scene had Marc reflecting in his podcast alone about his issues of emotional intimacy. Although seemingly honest, he still failed to see the errors in his ways, and to recognize the mistakes he has made. If being able to talk like this in a podcast is Marc's idea of integrity, then he sure as hell was rationalizing the direction of that his life and career went without selling out.

On the topic of selling out, if you believe in it (or not), please click one of the links below to help us be financially better off than Marc:

Tags: Marc Maron, Maron, Projections, Mexican Angel, Sex Fest, Jen Moves To L.A., Bobcat Goldwaith, Nora Zehetner , Judd Hirsch, IFC